The Cruise Examiner for 24th September 2012

The 28th edition of the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships has just appeared in Kindle format and hard copies will be available from next Monday. We look at some of the updates to this year’s issue, which now evaluates 284 cruise ships. Top-scoring ships include Hapag-Lloyd’s Europa, Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 in Grill class, the Celebrity Solstice class and of course the ships of Seabourn, Silversea, Crystal, Regent and Oceania – the latter an anomaly as its pay extra ships Riviera and Marina have somehow managed to outscore Regent’s all-inclusive Seven Seas Mariner and Seven Seas Voyager in all categories. And new designs to come next year? Europa 2, Norwegian Breakaway and Royal Princess (iii).

Meanwhile, three out of the five-ship fleet of Classic International Cruises have been arrested in Marseilles and Kotor, while a fourth, the Princess Daphne, continues to trade for Ambiente Kreuzfahrten of Germany.

We also look at how one major cruise agent has been able to stand up to the Carnival UK commission cut to 5% and even see a hefty increase in its profits while doing so.

And finally, Mistral Cruises will be the new kid on the block in Croatia in 2014 with its 34-berth Mistral, which has until now been operating as the Callisto for Travel Dynamics International.